


Latin Heat

by Iloveadabarba



Series: Barisi One-Shots [4]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 00:25:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13775781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iloveadabarba/pseuds/Iloveadabarba
Summary: A drabble I originally posted on Tumblr. Rafael has warm skin and it has been a problem in his love life.





	Latin Heat

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure. I am at work but I wanted to post something to help Barisi get closer to 1,000 fics.
> 
> Posted from my phone. All mistakes are my own. Any comment is loved.

As a child Rafael’s family often commented on how warm he was. Apparently his Latin skin gave off an unnatural warmth that many found off putting. His father would push him away when he would try to sit too close to him on the couch and his mother would tell him, jokingly, to only hug her in the winter.

He always tried to take the comment in stride. He couldn’t help it if his skin was a bit warm to the touch. The only person from his family that never commented on it was his Abuela. His grandmother was the only family member he had that was warm to the touch like him. It always made him feel special. 

She would often let him curl in bed with her winter or summer when she babysit him or when his father and mother were fighting and he needed to get away. She hugged him as many times as he wanted and never complained about his warmth.

His first girlfriend, Alice, was a gringa from his neighborhood in the Bronx. In retrospect she wasn’t the brightest in the bulb in the box so maybe he shouldn’t have expected to much. She wouldn’t let him hold her hand in the hallway at school because his warm hands made her sweat. His friends would tease him, saying he didn't really have a girlfriend because of the lack of physical touch between them.

Of course, Rafael had many lovers after her. Frequently women until he finally got over his Catholic guilt in college and started dating whomever he wished, woman or man. But every single one of his lovers commented on how sharing a bed with him was terrible. Many were kind about it while others were not. Rafael tried to keep every place he lived with a partner a refrigerator so his partner would feel comfortable at night. This caused him to get a summer cold every year without fail. 

The first time, Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. spent the night they had only been dating for about a month. Quick Coffees dates, interrupted dinners, work lunches whenever they could manage to fit in time together they used it to get to know each other.  
It was tentative at first. Neither one wanted to ruin their working relationship so they proceeded with caution. Rafael could tell it drove Sonny a bit crazy. Rafael suspected the lanky man was a cuddler. And although Rafael didn't mind that, he was dreading Sonny’s reaction to his warm skin.

Rafael was shocked at himself when he invited Sonny over one weekend just to sleep after a brutal case. Sonny had wrapped his arms around Rafael’s chest and curled up his legs so his knees rested gently behind Rafael’s thighs making him feel cocooned and safe. Sonny had shushed Rafael’s objections to them both wearing sweatpants to bed when he tried to explain that they would be too hot in the morning. He dreaded waking up all sweaty with Sonny. He didn’t want Sonny to find sharing a bed with Rafael off-putting

When Rafael had awoken in the morning he felt the dampness of sweat between him and Sonny. When Sonny woke he silenced Rafael with a kiss before he could comment on how warm their bodies were under the covers. Sonny said nothing about Rafael being too warm or being uncomfortable. The next night he climbed into bed in only his boxers instead of sweatpants and Rafael couldn't help but chuckle. 

Sonny simply leaned him against Rafael and held him tight like the previous night. Sonny whispered in his ear, “I could enjoy the warmth of your skin more if you were wearing less clothes.”

Rafael knew in that moment he loved Sonny. And that he had way too much clothes on while in bed with his really, hot Italian lover.


End file.
